This week the @WSJ reported that the upcoming MAHA report will include acetaminophen (also known as Tylenol in the United States, although it is used all over the world) use during pregnancy as a cause of autism. Acetaminophen is used in about 7.5 % of pregnant women. This is one of many environmental exposures that had previously been investigated in association with an autism diagnosis, but then disproven following rigorous and large scale studies with the right design. For example, is it acetaminophen or fever during pregnancy? Is it acetaminophen or some sort of underlying genetic susceptibility? This week’s ASFpodcast explores the association and what pregnant women should know.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40804730/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40898607/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39982125/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38592388/

This week’s podcast includes summaries from two new scientific studies (with comments from one of the studies’ authors @SimonsFoundation and @princetonPPH) about that tackle grouping and labeling the differences across the spectrum into meaningful subtypes. Both provide scientific evidence, including behavioral and biological data, that support the use of different labels. This is more evidence that lumping everyone into one unitary “autism” diagnosis is not meaningful or biologically accurate, and that using computer-driven approaches, different behavioral subtypes map onto behavioral features. This supports approaches that more clearly describe different types of autism for better supports.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40651720

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-025-02224-z

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451902224003793?via%3Dihub

Gene therapies have been in the news lately. They are being used to help individuals who have a genetic variant linked to a disorder or disease, including but not limited to: spinal muscular atrophy, carbamoyl phosphate synthetase 1 (CPS1) deficiency, diabetes and some types of cancers. What is the promise in rare genetic forms of neurodevelopmental disorders and autism? This week, scientists from Jaguar Gene Therapy discuss their ongoing studies in Phelan-McDermid Syndrome and how gene therapies hold promise for treating neurological impairments caused by a known genetic variant. The interview provides basic information of what a gene therapy is, how it works, how it is used and what is monitored during these treatments.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/infant-rare-incurable-disease-first-successfully-receive-personalized-gene-therapy-treatment

https://jaguargenetherapy.com

Are you the grandparent, cousin, aunt, uncle, sibling, or half-sibling of someone with autism and wondered “what is the likelihood of autism in families, and the likelihood of comorbid conditions if I have a family member with autism?” Researchers at the AJ Drexel Autism Research Institute and Aarhus University in Denmark collaborated to calculate probabilities between autism in a person and dozens of other comorbid conditions in family members. They not only made the paper open to the public for everyone to read it, but they also created a publicly available data visualization tool so anyone can go on and look at specific situations of particular family relationships relating to anything from autoimmune conditions to mental health and psychiatric diagnosis. Links below for reference:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39283002

Interactive graphs: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/diana.schendel/viz/ASDPlots_16918786403110/e-Figure5

This week, part 1 in cultural stigma around autism with Mia Kotikovski provides an overview of stigma, where it can come from across cultures and provides some examples of stigma in different countries. Different areas of the world are in different places in terms of their perceptions of autism, their needs for autism families, and what they perceive as their greatest difficulties. The topic is so important we broke it down into two sections. Please listen to both, it will explain a lot about autism services and supports around the world.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1362361318823550

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8992913

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11303671

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11303671

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30248583

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38507392

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277816405_A_Cross-Cultural_Comparison_of_Knowledge_and_Stigma_Associated_with_Autism_Spectrum_Disorder_Among_College_Students_in_Lebanon_and_the_United_States?enrichId=rgreq-97b7d5f50aac4d5b124ea8295b42fdb0-XXX&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI3NzgxNjQwNTtBUzoyNDI4NTI2Mzk4NDIzMDRAMTQzNDkxMTk4OTI3MA%3D%3D&el=1_x_3&_esc=publicationCoverPdf

General psychiatrists are trained deal with a range of psychiatric issues in a variety of areas, but very few have experience helping families of children and adults with autism. This is training that is desperately needed, as, like other professions, there are not enough psychiatrists to help families and waitlists are staggering. Dr. Arthur Westover at UT Southwestern discusses some potentially simple solutions, what he has tried and worked, and how families and advocacy groups can get more involved to ensure that doctors know about the unique and difficult psychiatric issues that autistics face. His ideas will not happen spontaneously, it’s going to take work to make psychiatrists more tuned into the needs of the autism community. He even wrote a paper (link below).

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38782841

A recent publication in the Lancet was dedicated to clinical recommendations to support autistic females at birth. Because more males than females are diagnosed with autism, their needs are often misunderstood, misinterpreted, or just ignored. Researchers, clinicians, scientists, parents and self-advocates from around the world joined together to identify those needs and propose solutions that can be implemented in everyday care. To read the article in it’s entirety, click here: https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1i5LV8Mut2Mzvb

The words “syndromic autism” have been used to describe individuals with autism who also have a rare genetic mutation. Is it time to change those words to something else? Scientists and clinicians Drs. Jacob Vorstman and Steve Scherer from the University of Toronto share recent data in understanding autism, the role of genetic testing in autism in predicting and treating other conditions that someone with autism may have, and why the words “syndromic autism” may need to be updated to describe a subgroup of autism.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37330697/

Below is the Figure 1 that Dr. Scherer refers to:

This week’s podcast covers two new papers of interest to the autism community. First, another study showing increase in self harm and suicide in those with autism – no new news there – but a new discovery this week showed a vulnerability of females with a diagnosis. The study also explores the lower rate of suicide in those with IDD but higher rate of self harm in this same group. Second, the mystery of autism genetics is slowly unveiled. Why is rare variation so influential in an autism diagnosis? As it turns out those with rare variation also have common variation, piling on the genetic liability in this group. Common variation is also uniquely linked to language delay in autism, so is this a core feature? Links below are the scientific articles as well as resources to support those dealing with mental health problems in the autistic community.

Mental health links:

https://vkc.vumc.org/assets/files/resources/mental-health-toolkit.pdf

https://www.camh.ca/-/media/files/cundill-centre/depression-and-autism-full-pdf.pdf

https://www.yorku.ca/health/lab/ddmh/wp-content/uploads/sites/407/2021/04/Mental-Health-Literacy-Guide-for-Autism_Section-9.pdf

https://www.azrieli-anc.com/autism-mental-healthhttps://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/mental-health/suicide#How%20do%20I%20get%20help%20and%20support

Articles:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2808056

Genetics study is OPEN ACCESS: https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2215632120?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub++0pubmed

A new paper in Translational Psychiatry this week outlines the reasons why some conditions that occur with autism are actually co-morbid, and not co-occurring. The podcast will break down clues on why sometimes they are co-morbid, and present an argument on why they are important in understanding the vast heterogeneity of autism.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aur.2898

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-023-02374-w